Join me and my husband, Marc, as we take a beautiful walk through Central Park. This wasn't just any stroll. It was location research for our recent bestseller, Once Upon a Grind. If you've read our Coffeehouse Mystery, you may recognize some of the landmarks and settings we used from the park: Belvedere Castle, the Ramble, Oak Bridge, etc.

Enjoy this virtual trip to our nation's first major

landscaped public park. (Videos included.)

To read the rest of this post, scroll down, click here or on the "read more" link below...

Thered marker in the Google interactive map below will

show you the general area of our walk today...

This is also the location of the world-famous
Delacorte Theater, where "Shakespeare in the Park"
is famously performed every summer.

For our readers, this is also where Tucker and Punch
performed children's theater during the Fairy Tale Festival
in Once Upon a Grind.Two life-size sculptures stand at the front of this theater
as a tribute to two of Shakespeare's plays. The first sculpture
(pictured below) was inspired by The Tempest.

from a hawk's vantage point. "Hawk watchers" with binoculars
can be seen up here on occasion. And where exactly is "up here"?

It's where I took this photo...

...from the observation deck of another

famous Central Park landmark,

Belvedere Castle.

Belvedere Castle was built in the late 19th Century as a
Victorian folly, just a shell of a mini castle with open observation
decks. By the early 20th Century, however, New Yorkers found a
purpose for it (a fitting metaphor for this non-stop town)...

The castle now serves as the city's weather station. Happily,
the equipment is automated, and the castle's open decks and
hollow interior can remain open to the public for the pleasure
of enjoying the beautiful vistas below, including Turtle Pond,
part of which is pictured in the photo below.

A not-to-miss feature of the castle is the cockatrice

ornament above one of its tower doors (pictured below).

What is a cockatrice? It's a mythical dragon with the head of a rooster, the body of a snake, and the wings of a bat. With a single glance, a touch, or even its breath, a cockatrice could kill you. According to legend, however, there was one sure-fire way you could destroy it: show the creature its reflection in a mirror.

Our readers may remember Clare Cosi mentioning a killer cockatrice inOnce Upon a Grind as she hikes through the Central Park woods with Matt. The reference isn't random. In the end, like the cockatrice, a creature of another kind is destroyed by a mirror.

On the other side of the castle, a sharp vertical descent
brings you to rocky steps that lead down into the oldest
and spookiest section of Central Park...

"The Ramble" consists of 37 acres of hilly woodlands

with secluded paths, arches, ponds, and bridges
like the ones pictured below...

Suitably creepy Ramble tree...

Marc walks ahead of me as we search for the perfect tangled
crime scene location. If you've read Once Upon a Grind,
then you know which scene we mean.

Two mallards float near a rowboat on the park's
18-acre lake. Oak Bridge stands in the background.

Marc and I took many photos of this beautifully restored
Oak Bridge because we stage an important
scene here in our mystery...

Below is another view of the Central Park Lake.

For the first time on our long walk, we can see we're in a city!

What are the two towers rising in the background?

Scroll down to the caption...

The two towers rising in the background are part of a famous
apartment building called the San Remo (built around 1930).
It sits along Central Park West's Historic District and,
over the years, has had a few tenants you may haveheard of: Steven Spielberg, Steve Martin, Dustin Hoffman,
Tiger Woods, Stephen Sondheim, Glenn Close, Demi Moore,
and Aaron Spelling. (And, no, we did not see any
of them on our walk. :))

The cast-iron details of the "Ladies Pavilion" makes it a notable
example of 19th century American decorative arts. It sits prettily
on the Central Park Lake, which was once used for ice skating in the
winter months. After 1950, the city moved the skaters to a rink
to allow the wildlife's former residents to return...

When we finally emerged from the park we saw this
magnificent landmark building. Do you recognize it?

The is The Dakota, the famous old residential building on
Central Park West and 72nd Street that has housed the rich and
famous for years. With apartments selling for $4 to $30 million,
this is one very exclusive address. But as crime fiction writers,
Marc and I recall it for a different reason, its infamous history.
Sadly, it's the murder scene of singer-songwriter John Lennon.

On a brighter note, we also saw this sight: bleachers on Central Park West.
Why? The city was getting ready for its annual Thanksgiving Day Parade,
an event of joy and wonder for children around the city
and around the world.

And speaking of Thanksgiving, Marc and I
would like to thank YOU for reading our books.

Until we see you again...

Marc and I wish you

Happy Trails!

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And Now Some

Video Fun!

A fun little tour: see "Rat Rock," the Central Park Zoo,
and a montage of the park's most famous statues,
including the Alice in Wonderland sculpture.Watch to the end because you'll
learn a valuable tip for not getting lost
when you're inside the park!